International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers - Notice of Data Privacy Event

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 29, 2020, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers ("BAC") discovered suspicious activity relating to certain BAC employee email accounts and instituted multifactor authentication. BAC immediately changed the passwords for the email accounts and began an investigation with assistance from outside computer forensics specialists to determine the nature and scope of the incident. The investigation determined that the employees' email accounts were subject to unauthorized access between June 4, 2020 and July 10, 2020. While BAC's investigation was able to confirm access to the accounts, the investigation was unable to rule out access to any emails or attachments within the accounts.  As a result, and with the assistance of third-party forensics, BAC began an extensive review of the email accounts to determine whether they contained any sensitive information and to whom the information relates.

The forensic investigator completed its careful, time-consuming analysis of the contents of the email accounts on September 21, 2020 and prepared a list of potentially impacted individuals whose information was determined to be present in the emails or attachments possibly viewed by the unauthorized person(s).  

The following types of personal information was found within the impacted email accounts: name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license/state identification number, financial account number, payment card information, passport number, and username and password.  BAC immediately implemented additional security measures and continues to take additional steps to secure personal information in its care.  Importantly, there is no indication that this information has been subject to actual or attempted misuse as a result of this event.  

BAC takes this incident and the security of personal information seriously. Upon discovery, BAC immediately launched an investigation and took steps to secure the email accounts and investigate activity.  BAC worked diligently to investigate and respond to this incident and, having searched its internal records to locate accurate address information, is notifying potentially impacted individuals through a written letter to their home address.  Despite BAC's diligent efforts to locate address information for all potentially impacted individuals, a number of addresses could not be located.  As such, and in addition to this notice, BAC is posting of this event on its website.  BAC is also reviewing and enhancing existing policies, procedures, and processes related to storage of and access to personal information.   

BAC encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review account statements, and to monitor their credit reports and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity. BAC is providing potentially impacted individuals with contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies, as well as providing advice on how to obtain free credit reports and how to place fraud alerts and security freezes on their credit files.  The relevant contact information is below:

Potentially impacted individuals may also find information regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes and the steps they may take to protect their information by contacting the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission or their state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20580, www.consumer.gov/idtheft, 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338), TTY: 1-866-653-4261.

Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement or the individual's state Attorney General.  For New York residents, the Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; https://ag.ny.gov/.

We understand some people may have additional questions concerning this incident.  Individuals can direct questions to 800-369-1370, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Eastern Time, excluding U.S. holidays. Information about this incident can also be found at bacweb.org.

SOURCE International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers